Adobe Soundbooth CS3 User manual

Brand: Adobe

Model: Soundbooth CS3

Type: User manual

This manual is also suitable for

22012057DM - Soundbooth CS3 - PC

USER GUIDE

ADOBE

SOUNDBOOTH

™

CS3

Adobe® Soundbooth™ CS3 User Guide for Windows® and Mac OS.

If this guide is distributed with software that includes an end user agreement, this guide, as well as the software described in it, is furnished under license and may be used or

copied only in accordance with the terms of such license. Except as permitted by any such license, no part of this guide may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or trans-

mitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of Adobe Systems Incorporated.Pleasenotethatthe

content in this guide is protected under copyright law even if it is not distributed with software that includes an end user license agreement.

Thecontentofthisguideisfurnishedforinformationaluseonly,issubjecttochangewithoutnotice,andshouldnotbeconstruedasacommitmentbyAdobe Systems Incorpo-

rated. Adobe Systems Incorporated assumes no responsibility or liability for any errors or inaccuracies that may appear in the informational content contained in this guide.

Please remember that existing artwork or images that you may want to include in your project may be protected under copyright law. The unauthorized incorporation of such

material into your new work could be a violation of the rights of the copyright owner. Please be sure to obtain any permission required from the copyright owner.

Any references to company names in sample templates are for demonstration purposes only and are not intended to refer to any actual organization.

Adobe, the Adobe logo, Adobe Premiere, After Effects, Creative Suite, Encore, Flash, Photoshop, Soundbooth, and Version Cue are either registered trademarks or trademarks

of Adobe Systems Incorporated in the United States and/or other countries.

Dolby is a trademark of Dolby Laboratories. Windows is either registered trademark or a trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. Mac

OS is a trademark of Apple Inc., registered in the United States and other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

This product includes software developed by the Apache Software Foundation (

http://www.apache.org/).

MPEG Layer-3 audio compression technology licensed by Fraunhofer IIS and Thomson Multimedia (

http://www.iis.fraunhofer.de/fhg/iis/EN/bf/amm/index.jsp).

ASIO and VST are trademarks of Steinberg Media Technologies GmbH.

Notice to U.S. Government end users: The Software and Documentation are “Commercial Items,” as that term is defined at 48 C.F.R. §2.101, consisting of “Commercial Computer

Software” and “Commercial Computer Software Documentation,” as such terms are used in 48 C.F.R. §12.212 or 48 C.F.R. §227.7202, as applicable. Consistent with 48 C.F.R.

§12.212 or 48 C.F.R. §§227.7202-1 through 227.7202-4, as applicable, the Commercial Computer Software and Commercial Computer Software Documentation are being

licensed to U.S. Government end users (a) only as Commercial Items and (b) with only those rights as are granted to all other end users pursuant to the terms and conditions

herein. Unpublished-rights reserved under the copyright laws of the United States. Adobe agrees to comply with all applicable equal opportunity laws including, if appropriate,

the provisions of Executive Order 11246, as amended, Section 402 of the Vietnam Era Veterans Readjustment Assistance Act of 1974 (38 USC 4212), and Section 503 of the

Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended, and the regulations at 41 CFR Parts 60-1 through 60-60, 60-250, and 60-741. The affirmative action clause and regulations contained in

the preceding sentence shall be incorporated by reference.

Adobe Systems Incorporated, 345 Park Avenue, San Jose, California 95110, USA.

iii

Contents

Chapter 1: Getting started

Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Adobe Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Key features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Chapter 2: Digital audio fundamentals

Understanding sound . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Digitizing audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Chapter 3: Workspace

Customizing the workspace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Managing workspaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Chapter 4: Importing, recording, and playing audio

Configuring hardware inputs and outputs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24

Opening and recording files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25

Playing audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

Chapter 5: Editing and repairing audio

Displaying audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Selecting audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Copying, cutting, pasting, and deleting audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Fading, changing, and maximizing volume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Repairing audio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

Looping, stretching, and pitch shifting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

Undo and redo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Chapter 6: Effects

Applying effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

Effects reference . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Chapter 7: Creating scores with AutoComposer

Get started with AutoComposer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55

Customizing scores . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

Saving and exporting scores . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

Chapter 8: Working with Flash and video

Working with Flash . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60

Working with video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

Chapter 9: Saving audio and video files

Saving and closing files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

Choosing file formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

Options for audio, AVI, and MOV formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

Options for additional video formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

Chapter 10: Keyboard shortcuts

Finding and customizing shortcuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

Common shortcuts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Chapter 11: Digital audio glossary

Common audio terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

Chapter 1: Getting started

Before you begin working with your software, take a few moments to read an overview of installation, Adobe Help,

and the many resources available to users. You have access to instructional videos, score templates, sound effects,

user communities, RSS feeds, tutorials, and much more.

Installation

Requirements

❖ To review complete system requirements and recommendations for your Adobe® software, see the Read Me file

on the installation disc.

Install the software

1 Close any other Adobe applications open on your computer.

2 Insert the installation disc into the disc drive, and follow the on-screen instructions.

Note: For more information, see the Read Me file on the installation disc.

Activate the software

Ifyouhaveasingle-userretaillicenseforyourAdobesoftware,youwillbeaskedtoactivateyoursoftware;thisisa

simple, anonymous process that you must complete within 30 days of starting the software.

For more information on product activation, see the Read Me file on your installation disc, or visit the Adobe website

at www.adobe.com/go/activation.

1 If the Activation dialog box isn’t already open, choose Help > Activate.

2 Follow the on-screen instructions.

Note: If you want to install the software on a different computer, you must first deactivate it on your computer. Choose

Help > Deactivate.

❖ To register, follow the on-screen instructions in the Registration dialog box, which appears after you install and

activate the software.

If you postpone registration, you can register at any time by choosing Help > Registration.

Read Me

The installation disc contains the Read Me file for your software. (This file is also copied to the application folder

during product installation.) Open the file to read important information about the following topics:

• System requirements

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• Installation (including uninstalling the software)

• Activation and registration

• Font installation

• Troubleshooting

• Customer support

• Legal notices

Adobe Help

Adobe Help resources

Documentation for your Adobe software is available in a variety of formats.

In-product and LiveDocs Help

In-product Help provides access to all documentation and instructional content available at the time the software

ships. It is available through the Help menu in your Adobe software.

LiveDocs Help includes all the content from in-product Help, plus updates and links to additional instructional

content available on the web. For some products, you can also add comments to the topics in LiveDocs Help. Find

LiveDocs Help for your product in the Adobe Help Resource Center, at www.adobe.com/go/documentation.

Most versions of in-product and LiveDocs Help let you search across the Help systems of multiple products. Topics

may also contain links to relevant content on the web or to topics in the Help of another product.

Think of Help, both in the product and on the web, as a hub for accessing additional content and communities of

users. The most complete and up-to-date version of Help is always on the web.

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Adobe PDF documentation

The in-product Help is also available as a PDF that is optimized for printing. Other documents, such as installation

guides and white papers, may also be provided as PDFs.

All PDF documentation is available through the Adobe Help Resource Center, at www.adobe.com/go/documen-

tation. To see the PDF documentation included with your software, look in the Documents folder on the installation

or content DVD.

Printed documentation

Printed editions of the in-product Help are available for purchase in the Adobe Store, at www.adobe.com/go/store.

You can also find books published by Adobe publishing partners in the Adobe Store.

A printed workflow guide is included with all Adobe Creative Suite® 3 products, and stand-alone Adobe products

may include a printed getting started guide.

Using Help in the product

In-productHelpisavailablethroughtheHelpmenu.AfteryoustarttheAdobeHelpViewer,clickBrowsetoseeHelp

for additional Adobe products installed on your computer.

These Help features facilitate cross-product learning:

• Topics may contain links to the Help systems of other Adobe products or to additional content on the web.

• Some topics are shared across two or more products. For instance, if you see a Help topic with an Adobe

Photoshop® CS3 icon and an Adobe After Effects® CS3 icon, you know that the topic either describes functionality

that is similar in the two products or describes cross-product workflows.

• You can search across the Help systems of multiple products.

If you search for a phrase, such as “shape tool,” enclose it in quotation marks to see only those topics that include all

the words in the phrase.

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Adobe Help

A. Back/Forward buttons (previously visited links) B. Expandable subtopics C. Icons indicating shared topic D. Previous/Next buttons (topics

in sequential order)

Accessibility features

Adobe Help content is accessible to people with disabilities—such as mobility impairments, blindness, and low

vision. In-product Help supports these standard accessibility features:

• The user can change text size with standard context menu commands.

• Links are underlined for easy recognition.

• If link text doesn’t match the title of the destination, the title is referenced in the Title attribute of the Anchor tag.

For example, the Previous and Next links include the titles of the previous and next topics.

• Content supports high-contrast mode.

• Graphics without captions include alternate text.

• Each frame has a title to indicate its purpose.

• Standard HTML tags define content structure for screen reading or text-to-speech tools.

• Style sheets control formatting, so there are no embedded fonts.

Keyboard shortcuts for Help toolbar controls (Windows)

Back button Alt+Left Arrow

Forward button Alt+Right Arrow

Print Ctrl+P

About button Ctrl+I

Browse menu Alt+Down Arrow or Alt+Up Arrow to view Help for another application

Search box Ctrl+S to place the insertion point in the Search box

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Keyboard shortcuts for Help navigation (Windows)

• To move between panes, press Ctrl+Tab (forward) and Shift+Ctrl+Tab (backward).

• To move through and outline links in a pane, press Tab (forward) or Shift+Tab (backward).

• To activate an outlined link, press Enter.

• To make text bigger, press Ctrl+equal sign.

• To make text smaller, press Ctrl+hyphen.

Resources

Adobe Video Workshop

The Adobe Creative Suite 3 Video Workshop offers over 200 training videos covering a wide range of subjects for

print, web, and video professionals.

YoucanusetheAdobeVideoWorkshoptolearnaboutanyCreativeSuite3product.Manyvideosshowyouhowto

use Adobe applications together.

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When you start the Adobe Video Workshop, you choose the products you want to learn and the subjects you want

to view. You can see details about each video to focus and direct your learning.

Community of presenters

With this release, Adobe Systems invited the community of its users to share their expertise and insights. Adobe and

lynda.com present tutorials, tips, and tricks from leading designers and developers such as Joseph Lowery, Katrin

Eismann, and Chris Georgenes. You can see and hear Adobe experts such as Lynn Grillo, Greg Rewis, and Russell

Brown. In all, over 30 product experts share their knowledge.

Tutorials and source files

The Adobe Video Workshop includes training for novices and experienced users. You’ll also find videos on new

features and key techniques. Each video covers a single subject and typically runs about 3-5 minutes. Most videos

come with an illustrated tutorial and source files, so you can print detailed steps and try the tutorial on your own.

Using Adobe Video Workshop

YoucanaccessAdobeVideoWorkshopusingtheDVDincludedwithyourCreativeSuite3product.It’salsoavailable

online at www.adobe.com/go/learn_videotutorials. Adobe will regularly add new videos to the online Video

Workshop, so check in to see what’s new.

Soundbooth CS3 videos

Adobe Video Workshop covers a wide range of subjects for Adobe Soundbooth™ CS3, including these:

• Editing audio

• Audio cleanup and restoration

• Polishing voiceovers using effects

• Creating music with AutoComposer

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• Exporting audio to FLV files

Videos also show you how to use Soundbooth CS3 with other Adobe products:

• Working with markers and cue points

• Creating and modifying menus in Encore®

To access Adobe Creative Suite 3 video tutorials, visit Adobe Video Workshop at

www.adobe.com/go/learn_videotutorials.

Extras

To help you make the most of Adobe Soundbooth, you have access to a wide variety of resources. Some are installed

on your computer during the setup process, others are included on the installation DVD, and even more are available

online through Resource Central.

Installed score templates

During software installation, 40 Soundbooth score templates are placed in the application folder. These score

template (.sbst) files can be previewed and opened in Adobe Bridge, or opened directly from the File menu. Each

template is produced by an expert musician, adding professional polish to your projects.

To view installed score templates, navigate to the following folder on your computer:

• Windows: [startup drive]/Program files/Adobe/Adobe Soundbooth CS3

• Mac OS: [startup drive]/Applications/Adobe Soundbooth CS3

Documentation on DVD

On the installation DVD, the Documentation folder contains a PDF version of Help, technical information, and

other documents such as reference guides and specialized feature information.

Online content from Resource Central

TheResourceCentralpanel(Window>ResourceCentral)connectsyoutothelatest,dynamicallyupdatedcontent

on the Adobe website. There, you’ll find extensive collections of sound effects and score templates that increase the

power of Soundbooth, as well as expert tips and tutorials that expand your audio knowledge.

Bridge Home

Bridge Home, a new destination in Adobe Bridge CS3, provides up-to-date information on all your Adobe Creative

Suite 3 software in one convenient location. Start Adobe Bridge, then click the Bridge Home icon at the top of the

Favorites panel to access the latest tips, news, and resources for your Creative Suite tools.

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Note: Bridge Home may not be available in all languages.

Adobe Design Center

Adobe Design Center offers articles, inspiration, and instruction from industry experts, top designers and Adobe

publishing partners. New content is added monthly.

You can find hundreds of tutorials for design products and learn tips and techniques through videos, HTML

tutorials, and sample book chapters.

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New ideas are the heart of Think Tank, Dialog Box, and Gallery:

• ThinkTankarticlesconsiderhowtoday’sdesignersengagewithtechnologyandwhattheirexperiencesmeanfor

design, design tools, and society.

• In Dialog Box, experts share new ideas in motion graphics and digital design.

• The Gallery showcases how artists communicate design in motion.

Visit Adobe Design Center at www.adobe.com/designcenter.

Adobe Developer Center

Adobe Developer Center provides samples, tutorials, articles, and community resources for developers who build

rich Internet applications, websites, mobile content, and other projects using Adobe products. The Developer Center

also contains resources for developers who develop plug-ins for Adobe products.

In addition to sample code and tutorials, you'll find RSS feeds, online seminars, SDKs, scripting guides, and other

technical resources.

Visit Adobe Developer Center at www.adobe.com/go/developer.

Customer support

VisittheAdobeSupportwebsite,atwww.adobe.com/support, to find troubleshooting information for your product

and to learn about free and paid technical support options. Follow the Training link for access to Adobe Press books,

a variety of training resources, Adobe software certification programs, and more.

Downloads

Visit www.adobe.com/go/downloads to find free updates, tryouts, and other useful software. In addition, the Adobe

Store (at www.adobe.com/go/store) provides access to thousands of plug-ins from third-party developers, helping

you to automate tasks, customize workflows, create specialized professional effects, and more.

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Adobe Labs

Adobe Labs gives you the opportunity to experience and evaluate new and emerging technologies and products from

Adobe.

At Adobe Labs, you have access to resources such as these:

• Prerelease software and technologies

• Code samples and best practices to accelerate your learning

• Early versions of product and technical documentation

• Forums, wiki-based content, and other collaborative resources to help you interact with like-minded developers

Adobe Labs fosters a collaborative software development process. In this environment, customers quickly become

productive with new products and technologies. Adobe Labs is also a forum for early feedback, which the Adobe

development teams use to create software that meets the needs and expectations of the community.

Visit Adobe Labs at www.adobe.com/go/labs.

User communities

User communities feature forums, blogs, and other avenues for users to share technologies, tools, and information.

Users can ask questions and find out how others are getting the most out of their software. User-to-user forums are

available in English, French, German, and Japanese; blogs are posted in a wide range of languages.

To participate in forums or blogs, visit www.adobe.com/communities.

Key features

Key features in Adobe Soundbooth CS3

Built for video editors, web designers and developers, motion graphics artists, and other creative professionals,

Soundbooth delivers tools for audio editing, cleanup, sound design, and music creation—all within a familiar, Adobe

interface. With a set of powerful and intuitive tools, Soundbooth enables even those with very little audio experience

to quickly complete everyday tasks: recording and editing, removing unwanted noise, customizing sound effects,

adding sonic emphasis to a scene, or creating royalty-free music to match the mood of a production.

For a video about the Soundbooth workflow, see www.adobe.com/go/vid0242.

Intuitive audio editing with on-clip controls Improving audio is as easy as clicking on audio content. Soundbooth

provides instant cut, copy, and paste functions, and on-clip editing tools such as trim, fade, and volume control. With

just one click, you can quickly fix, boost, decrease, or otherwise modify audio assets to better meet production needs.

(See “Editing and repairing audio” on page 31.)

Fast audio cleanup Rescue audio assets that might otherwise need to be re-recorded. Use audio cleanup tools to

remove the background hiss and hum from the sound of an air conditioner, rumble noise coming from the tape in a

video camera, clicks and pops from a wireless microphone, and other unwanted background noises and artifacts.

(See “Remove background noise” on page 42.)

AutoComposer with customizable Soundbooth Scores UseAutoComposertoeasilycustomizethelengthandmood

of music to match audio or video production. Open and customize Soundbooth Scores, and use keyframes to

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animate a score’s intensity and instrumentation over time. Dozens of flexible Soundbooth Score templates are

included. (See “Creating scores with AutoComposer” on page 55.)

Fast mastering and vocal improvement Polish the overall sound of a track by applying any of the high-quality

mastering presets in Soundbooth. Then make your vocal tracks glisten with the one-click Vocal Enhancer. (See

“Mastering” on page 53 and “Vocal Enhancer” on page 54.)

More than 15 high-quality audio filters Manipulate audio using built-in effects like EQ, compression, reverb, echo,

chorus, distortion, time-stretching, and pitch-shifting. Choose from multiple presets or save custom presets for use

throughout projects. Stack up to five filters at a time with the Effects Rack, and then preview them in real time. (See

“Effects” on page 46.)

Heal sound using visual tools Spectral analysis and on-clip editing tools let you find and fix noise visually. Easily

identify and remove individual sounds from within an audio file using marquee and lasso tools similar to those

found in Adobe Photoshop. For example, the Auto Heal function works like the familiar Healing Brush tool in

Photoshop, cleanly removing an unwanted sound while leaving desirable audio intact. (See “Visually identifying

noise” on page 41.)

Record new assets Soundbooth lets you record original sounds for use in Adobe Premiere® Pro CS3 or Adobe Flash®

CS3 Professional, or other audio and video environments. Add markers on the fly while recording and automatically

page 26.)

Customize thousands of included sound effects Access Adobe Bridge CS3 from Soundbooth to browse score

templates and sound effects and quickly add them to a project. Customize or modify sound effects with edits and

audio filters, and then save them for use in Adobe Flash CS3 Professional and other environments. (See “Browsing

assets with Adobe Bridge” on page 26.)

Work easily with Adobe Premiere Pro CS3 Audio workflow integrates smoothly with the visual workflow in your

creative projects. Edit audio assets in Soundbooth and update them automatically in Adobe Premiere Pro CS3. (See

“Working with video” on page 61.)

Create animation cues for Flash Edit Flash cues quickly in the Markers panel. Insert markers while playing,

recording, or editing audio. Display, add, delete, or change name and value pairs and other details for event

navigation and scripting in Flash. Export markers to XML or within FLV files for use in Flash. (See “Working with

Flash” on page 60.)

Chapter 2: Digital audio fundamentals

An understanding of key audio concepts helps you get the most out of Adobe Soundbooth CS3.

Understanding sound

Sound waves

Sound starts with vibrations in the air, like those produced by guitar strings, vocal cords, or speaker cones. These

vibrations push nearby air molecules together, raising the air pressure slightly. The air molecules under pressure then

push on the air molecules surrounding them, which push on the next set of molecules, and so on. As high-pressure

areas move through the air, they leave low-pressure areas behind them. When these waves of pressure changes reach

us, they vibrate the receptors in our ears, and we hear the vibrations as sound.

When you see a visual waveform that represents audio, it reflects these waves of air pressure. The zero line in the

waveform is the pressure of air at rest. When the line swings up to a peak, it represents higher pressure; when the line

swings down to a trough, it represents lower pressure.

A sound wave represented as a visual waveform

A. Zero line B. Low-pressure area C. High-pressure area

Waveform measurements

Several measurements describe sound waveforms:

Amplitude Reflects the change in pressure from the peak of the waveform to the trough. High-amplitude waveforms

are loud; low-amplitude waveforms are quiet.

Cycle Describes a single, repeated sequence of pressure changes, from zero pressure, to high pressure, to low

pressure, and back to zero.

Frequency Measured in hertz (Hz), describes the number of cycles per second. (For example, a 1000-Hz waveform

has 1000 cycles per second.) The higher the frequency, the higher the musical pitch.

Phase Measured in 360 degrees, indicates the position of a waveform in a cycle. Zero degrees is the start point,

followed by 90º at high pressure, 180º at the halfway point, 270º at low pressure, and 360º at the end point.

Wavelength Measured in units such as inches or centimeters, is the distance between two points with the same

degree of phase. As frequency increases, wavelength decreases.

SOUNDBOOTH CS3

User Guide

A single cycle at left; a complete, 20-Hz waveform at right

A. Wavel en gt h B. Degree of phase C. Amplitude D. One second

How sound waves interact

When two or more sound waves meet, they add to and subtract from each other. If their peaks and troughs are

perfectly in phase, they reinforce each other, resulting in a waveform that has higher amplitude than either individual

waveform.

In-phase waves reinforce each other.

If the peaks and troughs of two waveforms are perfectly out of phase,theycanceleachother,resultinginnowaveform

at all.

Out-of-phase waves cancel each other.

In most cases, however, waves are out of phase in varying amounts, resulting in a combined waveform that is more

complex than individual waveforms. A complex waveform that represents music, voice, noise, and other sounds, for

example, combines the waveforms from each sound.

Because of its unique physical structure, a single instrument can create extremely complex waves. That’s why a violin

and a trumpet sound different even when playing the same note.

Two simple waves combine to create a complex wave.

270

180

360

SOUNDBOOTH CS3

User Guide

Digitizing audio

Comparing analog and digital audio

In analog and digital audio, sound is transmitted and stored in very different ways.

Analog audio: positive and negative voltage

A microphone converts the pressure waves of sound into voltage changes in a wire: high pressure becomes positive

voltage, and low pressure becomes negative voltage. When these voltage changes travel down a microphone wire,

they can be recorded onto tape as changes in magnetic strength or onto vinyl records as changes in groove size. A

speaker works like a microphone in reverse, taking the voltage signals from an audio recording and vibrating to

re-create the pressure wave.

Digital audio: zeroes and ones

Unlike analog storage media such as magnetic tape or vinyl records, computers store audio information digitally as

a series of zeroes and ones. In digital storage, the original waveform is broken up into individual snapshots called

samples. This process is typically known as digitizing or sampling the audio, but it is sometimes called

analog-to-digital conversion.

When you record from a microphone into a computer, for example, analog-to-digital converters transform the

analog signal into digital samples that computers can store and process.

Sample rate

Sample rate indicates the number of digital samples taken of an audio signal each second. This rate determines the

frequency range of an audio file. The higher the sample rate, the closer the shape of the digital waveform is to that of

theoriginalanalogwaveform.Lowsamplerateslimittherangeoffrequenciesthatcanberecorded,whichcanresult

in a recording that poorly represents the original sound.

Two sample rates

A. Low sample rate that distorts the original sound wave B. High sample rate that perfectly reproduces the original sound wave

To reproduce a given frequency, the sample rate must be at least twice that frequency. (See “Nyquist frequency” on

page 82.) For example, CDs have a sample rate of 44,100 samples per second, so they can reproduce frequencies up

to 22,050 Hz, which is just beyond the limit of human hearing, 20,000 Hz.

The following table lists the most common sample rates for digital audio:

SOUNDBOOTH CS3

User Guide

Bit depth

Bit depth determines dynamic range. When a sound wave is sampled, each sample is assigned the amplitude value

closest to the original wave’s amplitude. Higher bit depth provides more possible amplitude values, producing greater

dynamic range, a lower noise floor, and higher fidelity:

Higher bit depths provide greater dynamic range.

Audio file contents and size

An audio file on your hard drive, such as a WAV file, consists of a small header indicating sample rate and bit depth,

and then a long series of numbers, one for each sample. These files can be very large. For example, at 44,100 samples

per second and 16 bits per sample, a file requires 86 KB per second—about 5 MB per minute. That figure doubles to

10 MB per minute for a stereo CD, which has two channels.

How Soundbooth digitizes audio

When you record audio in Soundbooth, the sound card starts the recording process and specifies what sample rate

and bit depth to use. Through Line In or Microphone In ports, the sound card receives analog audio and digitally

samples it at the specified rate. Soundbooth stores each sample in sequence until you stop recording.

Sample rate Quality level Frequency range

11,025 Hz Poor AM radio (low-end multimedia) 0–5,512 Hz

22,050 Hz Near FM radio (high-end multimedia) 0–11,025 Hz

32,000 Hz Better than FM radio (standard broadcast rate) 0–16,000 Hz

44,100 Hz CD 0–22,050 Hz

48,000 Hz Standard DVD 0–24,000 Hz

96,000 Hz High-end DVD 0–48,000 Hz

Bit depth Quality level Amplitude values Dynamic range

8-bit Telephony 256 48 dB

16-bit CD 65,536 96 dB

24-bit DVD 16,777,216 144 dB

32-bit Best 4,294,967,296 192 dB

192 dB

144 dB

48 dB

0 dB

96 dB

8-bit

16-bit 24-bit 32-bit

SOUNDBOOTH CS3

User Guide

When you play a file in Soundbooth, the process happens in reverse. Soundbooth sends a series of digital samples to

thesoundcard.ThecardreconstructstheoriginalwaveformandsendsitasananalogsignalthroughLineOutports

to your speakers.

To sum up, the process of digitizing audio starts with a pressure wave in the air. A microphone converts this pressure

wave into voltage changes. A sound card converts these voltage changes into digital samples. After analog sound

becomes digital audio, Soundbooth can record, edit, and process it—the possibilities are limited only by your imagi-

nation.

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Adobe Soundbooth CS3 User manual

Brand: Adobe

Model: Soundbooth CS3

Type: User manual

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22012057DM - Soundbooth CS3 - PC

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Adobe Soundbooth CS3 User manual

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